Seriously – I need to know. I’m stumped for gifts this year and could use some hints.

It’s probably because my family is in a transitional stage. My oldest daughter is in her own home. My middle daughter, who graduated from Valdosta State last weekend, soon will be on her own, teaching Spanish in a school north of Atlanta. And my youngest is mostly away at college.

Even Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt rejected the thought of unionized public servants such as teachers and police, while approving unions in private industry. Since then, unions have strong-armed themselves into organizing public servants, and following suit the Washington bureaucracy has established a huge Department of Education taking power and funds from states and localities where it belonged.

At some point during the next year, Gov. Nathan Deal might have to come up with the correct answer to a most difficult question: Is spending tax money on a new stadium for Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank so important that it justifies throwing away the job of governor?

Blank thinks it would be a great idea for the state to spend $300 million from a hotel-motel tax to help pay for a billion-dollar stadium that would replace the Georgia Dome.

The folks at the Georgia World Congress Center Authority (WCCA) are willing to go along with this proposal.

During the past legislative session, important tax reform passed which focuses on updating and modernizing our tax code in order to make us more competitive with the surrounding Southern states. As part of this legislation, not only are the previous agriculture exemptions defined and re-branded, but new exemptions are established for farmers and producers. Sales tax exemptions for agricultural inputs are broadened through including equipment parts, energy used in production of an agricultural product and other inputs that were previously not exempt. ...

Georgia lawmakers this year dressed themselves as Santa Claus to hand out tax cuts to manufacturers.

But because much of the revenue from those taxes would have gone to local coffers, they’re forcing county commissioners and city officials across the state to play the role of Grinch to get the money back.

The issue arose in Columbia County Tuesday when commissioners started discussions on implementing an excise tax on energy consumed by manufacturers. The law granting the exemptions allows local communities to impose the energy tax to recoup the revenue.